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Heath the Tainted Soul
Heath is a major, albeit unwilling villain from the video game Trials of Mana. He was a teenage Priest Mage of the Holy City Wendel and the best friend of the half-elf cleric Charlotte, one of the six playable heroes, but he was captured by Goremand and turned into the Masked Mage's right-hand man called the Tainted Soul. As a brainwashed slave, he plays a lesser role than the other two possible second-to-last bosses. Background Heath was born in the Holy City of Wendel, house to the main cult of the Mana Goddess, and the Ancient Ruins of Light where the Mana Stone of Light is kept. His father, Belgar was the Oracle of Shadows, one of the two arch-priests overseeing the city with the Priest of Light. Until a little girl fell ill and normal magic could not save her. Desperate to save her, Belgar studied the forbidden Dark Magic for a cure, but she died too soon and he tried to resurrect her with necromancy. He eventually grew obsessed with Dark Magic, but the Dark Forces corrupted him, turning him into the evil Masked Mage and forcing the Priest of Light to exile him. The Priest of Light took care of Heath, who became one of the priest mages of Wendel. He quickly rose in rank until he became Cleric and the captain of the guard. As a kid, he befriended Charlotte, the orphaned, half-elf, grand-daughter of the Priest of Light and became her surrogate big brother. But her elf inheritance makes her grow up much slower than humans. As such, at fifteen years old she retains the body and mind of a five-year-old child while Heath (who is a few years older) is close to adulthood. Personality Heath is at heart a noble and caring soul, polite, eloquent, very dedicated to his duties and protective of his loved ones, who only uses lethal force when he has no other choice. He never reveals it, but he is also tormented by his father's fate. As the Tainted Soul he becomes creepily cold and emotionless, Blindly obeying orders and only speaking when he needs to. He states that the world is bleak and filled with suffering, regards death as a relief and dismisses good as useless and corruptible. He would kill his closest friends without batting an eyelid if they stand against his "lord". ''Trials of Mana'' Worried by the evil forces draining the power of Mana and the sudden aggressiveness of the Beast Kingdom of Ferolia, the Priest of Light, sends Heath to investigate. But Charlotte eavesdropped their conversation. Fearing the worst, she escapes the palace to follow him despite being a complete novice in magic. Heath is attacked by three Beastmen who reveal that Ferolia will invade Wendel. He easily defeats them when they seize Charlotte, who foolishly revealed herself. Right after, they sense an ominous presence looming close. Heath shields Charlotte but he is knocked out by Goremand. Having seen the teen's enormous potential, the Monster Clown abducts him right before Charlotte's eyes. Heath recognizes his father and tries to bring him back to normal, but only to lose his soul and himself in the darkness he commands. Now a walking corpse only living through the Masked Mage, Heath is enslaved and becomes the Tainted Soul. Worse, the Mage raises his power to untold heights, making him extremely dangerous. Charlotte sets out to rescue her friend, and learns that Goremand is manipulating the King of Ferolia, using the human prejudice against the beastmen to make them wage war against the other nations to further the Masked Mage's agenda. The Mage is now one of the three Great Evils of the world of Fa'Diel, who plans to unseal the Mana Stones and release the Benevodons, as do the other Great Evils, the Dragon Lord and the Dark Majesty. If either Kevin or Charlotte has been chosen as the main character, the Masked Mage will be the game's Final Boss and will dispose of his two rivals. If not, he will be slain by the game's actual Final Boss and Heath will die in the process. Later, the Priest of Wendel fells ill and Heath reappears as the Tainted Soul. The heroes enlist the help of the Elemental Spirits and reach the Mana Sanctuary, where the Mana Tree (the earthly avatar of the Mana Goddess) is located. Unfortunately, the Goddess lost most of her might, and can only give them the mythical Sword of Mana. But Goremand and Heath take the heroes' Faerie guide hostage, demanding the Sword in exchange for her life and they can only comply. Goremand is harmed by the Sword' s Holy Power, but Heath heals him and they bend it to their will. He then teleport away to report to his “liege” while Goremand releases the Benevodons. As they are unleashing their armies of monsters all over Fa'Diel, the Faerie tells a distraught Charlotte that she sensed a great sadness in Heath, explaining that her friend is no longer himself. The heroes track down and destroy the Benevodons but unknowingly play into the Masked Mage's hand. They later defeat Goremand in the Jungle of illusions and storm the Mirage Palace, confronting the Masked Mage and his brainwashed son. The evil wizard reveals that the Sword of Mana houses the Benevodons' power, which he plans to absorb, in order to surpass and overthrow the Mana Goddess. Hopefully, the Goddess thwarts his plan with her remaining strength, but the aggravated Mage teleports to the Sanctuary to destroy the Mana Tree. The party tries to chase after him but Heath teleports them to another room in the palace and tells them that their life ends here. After a difficult battle, Heath is defeated, temporarily bringing his soul back from the abyss. He reveals Belgar's story urges the heroes to defeat him, before ushering a final blessing with his dying breath. The heroes head to the Sanctuary and ultimately destroys the Dark Lich, the Masked Mage's demonic avatar. During the ending of the game, the party learns that when Heath died, he used his life-force to cure the Priest of Light's illness. Heath is later resurrected by the new Mana Goddess. Boss Battle The Tainted Soul is widely regarded as the hardest of the three second-to-last bosses. He is an extremely powerful mage at level 48, with 11543 life-points, who uses fearsome attacks and can heal himself. He must never ever be underestimated, even with heroes of a higher level than his own. Heath frequently heals himself to regains 600 to 700 life-points. He can cast Dark Curse to greatly weaken the heroes or fire balls of white light that deals little to no damage but throws them backwards. He masters all summons, from the six monsters to the four divine beings who heavily damage all heroes. Freya shrinks them, Jormungandr poisons them and Marduk confuses them, so they must make sure to cure often. He casts the Light spells Lucent Beam and Holy Bolt, always on all of them for higher damage. Finally, he can cast the very powerful special spell Ghost Leader. To cut a long story short, all of his attacks are highly dangerous. The best way to deal with him is to keep close and to attack continuously with weapons and special techniques. The heroes must boost themselves and decrease his own, especially his magic power, as much as can be. Beware for he unleashes a very damaging counterattack whenever struck with attacks over level 2, so constant harassment is advised over too much attack. The heroes must heal very often and make him lose every life-point he regains in the following minutes. Casting the Moon Sabre spell on weapons, makes every blow absorb his life-points, which makes the fight much easier. ''Circle of Mana'' Like nearly every character of the Mana series, Heath is playable in the card-based roleplaying game Circle of Mana. The characters are played as cards to save the Mana Tree from monsters, and can gain power, equipment and Class Changes. Several cards featuring him are available, each evolving following a distinct path. In most card series, Heath is featured as his benevolent, priestly normal self, but one of them features him as his evil, sorcerous brainwashed self. Category:Fantasy Villains Category:Video Game Villains Category:Game Bosses Category:Male Category:Teenagers Category:Friend of a Hero Category:Possessed/Brainwashed Category:Right-Hand Category:Magic Category:Dark Priests Category:Summoners Category:Redeemed